Romanism. In 1720 the Presbytery of Lorn represented to the General Assembly that three populous districts in Ardnamurchan had never been reformed from Popery; that the number of examinable persons was seven hundred; and that only one family was Protestant. In 1722 it was reported that in Kilmonivaig a hundred and fifty persons had recently apostatized to Popery; and that in Glengarry, a pendicle of that parish, where there were five hundred souls, the Reformation had never taken place at all. At the same time the Presbytery of Dunkeld represented that Kenmore, with a population of six thousand, had never had a Presbyterian minister since the Revolution-a period of thirty-four years; and, stranger still, that in the whole tract stretching from Dull to Inverary, there was not one Presbyterian minister to be found.1

The preachers, catechists, and schoolmasters toiled on, but the evil was not much abated. Roman Catholicism continued to linger in its old haunts.2 Protestantism made some progress, but it was very slow. If we take up a modern almanac, we shall find that Roman priests are still labouring among the mists of Uist, Barra, Arisaig, Glengarry, Knoydart, Morar, and Moydart, and administering the mass to a people who have inherited the faith with the blood of those who lived there a hundred and fifty years ago.

We have here presented the problem which has puzzled philosophers, and of which no perfect solution has yet been found-How should the Reformed religion have at first advanced from victory to victory till the half of Christendom was at its feet? and how should it since have lost its power? Between 1520 and 1570, Protestantism wrested the half of Europe from Rome; between 1570 and the present time it has scarcely achieved a single conquest. The boundary-line between the Roman and the Protestant States at the close of the sixteenth century is the boundary-line still. In Scotland, some secluded glens and sea-girt islands were overlooked when the work of reformation was going on, and the efforts of five generations have been unable to atone for the neglect. Had some follower of Knox visited them when the land was full of the ferment of the Reformation, and told them how their fellow-countrymen were everywhere throwing their idols to the moles and the bats, there is every likelihood that they would have caught the infection and done the same. But when the 1 Maitland, Miscellany, vol. iv. 2 See Original Statistical Account.

tide was flowing it did not reach them; and when all others were borne along with it, they were left high and dry upon the beach. In the midst of Protestantism they remained Catholic -hereditary representatives of the ancient faith of their country-like medieval tenements in the midst of a modern city, bringing back the memory of a bygone order of things.

The Treaty of Union with England was now the great subject of anxiety in the country. The parliament which assembled in 1705 had empowered the queen to nominate commissioners to meet with the commissioners of the English parliament, and treat regarding this great subject. As religion was one of the principal causes of uneasiness, they were specially prohibited from giving their consent to any alteration in the worship or discipline of the Established Church.1 The commissioners of the two kingdoms shortly afterwards met at the Cockpit, and proceeded to discuss the articles of the treaty.

A complete union between the nations separated by the Tweed was no new thing. Edward I. had carried fire and sword into Scotland to effect it. It was the manner in which unions were managed in his time. Henry VIII. first negotiated for a marriage between his infant son Edward and the infant Mary, who wore the northern crown while yet in her cradle; and when negotiations failed, he resorted to arms. James VI. no sooner ascended the English throne than he set his heart upon a union of the kingdoms. He assumed to himself the title of King of Great Britain. He declared that England and Scotland were names of hostility, and ought to be abolished. His son Charles I. inherited his opinions. The Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, effected with a strong hand what many sovereigns had been unable to accomplish. During his reign Scotland and England were one nation, with one parliament; and though the Scotch pride had been wounded, a prosperity unknown before had helped to sooth it. But when Cromwell died, his policy died with him. All these efforts to knit the two nations into one had failed; but at length the fulness of the time was

come.

Notwithstanding the many obvious reasons for an incorporating union of the two nations, the popular feeling of Scotland was strongly opposed to it. The people thought it was a surrender of their national independence-a giving up volun1 Anne, parl. i. sect. iii. chap. iv.

tarily of what their fathers had held dearer than life. The Presbyterians dreaded the result upon their Church. They remembered the trials it had come through. They knew the influence of the Episcopal dignitaries, and dreaded that Presbytery would be endangered by a parliament in which so many prelates had a seat. Some of them called to mind the Covenant they had sworn to extirpate Prelacy from both England and Ireland; and how could they now tolerate its mitred representatives in the legislature of the united kingdoms? So strong were these feelings, that while the Treaty was depending, numerous addresses from counties, burghs, and presbyteries were presented against it; the members of parliament who were known to favour it were insulted by the mob in the streets of the metropolis; the Cameronians in the south, and some of the clans in the north, began to muster under experienced captains, and a renewal of convulsions was anticipated.1

It was well that the Church at this period was guided by the counsels of a man so influential and so cautious as Carstares. After the death of his great patron King William, he had accepted the office of Principal of the University of Edinburgh, and soon acquired in the Ecclesiastical Courts the ascendency to which his position, his abilities, and his services were so well entitled.2 It was felt that, if the Church put forth her strength to oppose the Union, it must necessarily miscarry. Carstares exerted all his influence to prevent this, and succeed

A few presbyteries voted addresses couched in language very offensive to the government; but the commission, which had received special instructions to watch over the safety of the Church, instead of presuming to dictate to the parliament, contented itself with presenting a respectful address, begging its attention to the interests of the Established Church.3

The commissioners for negotiating the Treaty had had many difficulties to contend with, besides those which resulted from the pride and the prejudices of the two kingdoms. Taxes were to be equalised-the number of representatives

1 Somerville's History of the Reign of Queen Anne, pp. 207-32. Laing's History of Scotland, vol. ii.

2 The Earl of Seafield, in writing to Mr Carstares about this period, says "My Lord Portland gave me the honour of a visit this day, and is very well. He asked kindly about you; I told him you governed the Church, the university, and all your old friends here. That you lived with great satisfaction, and was as much his servant as ever." (M'Cormick's Life of Carstares, p. 74.)

3 Somerville's History, p. 226.

from either country who were to sit in the imperial parliament was to be fixed-many other delicate details were to be arranged; but at last they brought their labours to a close. Nothing now remained but to get the sanction of the two parliaments.

On the 3d of October 1706, the Scotch parliament met. When it was resolved to proceed with the consideration of the Treaty, the most intense anxiety prevailed in the city. Crowds prowled about the streets, besieged the Parliament house, poured out their abuse upon the representative of Majesty, and conducted the orators who spoke against the Union in triumph to their lodgings. Such was the threatening aspect of affairs that the Commissioner and Chancellor had some thoughts of adjourning the parliament, but Lord Stair and Lord Godolphin urged them not to yield to such weakness.1 The Articles of Union agreed upon by the commissioners made no mention of religion. It was a thing too delicate to be handled by them. But now the parliament passed an act for securing the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church government. By this act it was ordained, that the government of the Church by kirk-sessions, presbyteries, synods, and General Assemblies should continue unalterable, and be the only government of the Church within the kingdom of Scotland. It was provided that this act should be inserted in the Treaty of Union, and form an essential condition of it.2

It was known that a similar security was to be given for the continuance of the English Church within England, and the Scottish parliament, in their ratification of the Articles of Union, inserted a clause giving their consent to this; but the commission of the Assembly, learning what was done, and regarding it as a sinful compliance, petitioned that no pledge should be given for the establishment of a hierarchy and ceremonies which would involve the nation in guilt. It was an ebullition of the old Covenanting spirit.3

At length, after long and vehement debates, the Articles of Union were agreed upon. It was said that dexterous management and English gold greatly helped the conclusion, but surely we must also attribute it to patriotic feelings, and a sagacity which was able to forecast the future. The Treaty was next carried up to London, to be laid before the English houses of parliament. There an act was inserted for the 1 Laing's History, vol. ii. 2 Anne, parl. i. sect. iv. chap. vi.

3 De Foe's History of the Union, p. 480. See also Appendix, p. 625.

security of the English Church, very similar to that for the security of the Scottish Church. In the Commons almost no opposition was made to the bill; but in the Lords, four of the bishops took exception at the Scottish Act of Security. Upon this Archbishop Denison, the English Primate, surnamed the Old Rock, stood up and said, "That he had no scruple in approving of it within the bounds of Scotland; that he thought the narrow notions of all Churches had been their ruin; and that he believed the Church of Scotland to be as true a Protestant Church as the Church of England, though it was not so perfect." It was well and charitably spoken; and several bishops followed in the same strain.1

When the Articles of Union had been agreed to by the English legislature, their exemplification, as it was called, was conveyed back to Scotland, and recorded by the parliament on the 25th of March 1707. This done, the Scottish parliament adjourned to the 22d of April, but in reality to meet no more. When the Chancellor, Lord Seafield, declared the adjournment, he is reported to have said in jest, "There is an end of an old song." But the people were in no jesting mood, and believed that the glory of their country was departed

for ever.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE General Assembly was now the only legislative body in Scotland, but it did not gain in strength by being left alone. It was like a parasitic plant deprived of the props which gave it support. A great deal of its power resulted from the influence which it could bring to bear upon the Privy Council and the parliament; but the Privy Council was now abolished, and the parliament was merged in the parliament of Great Britain, whose legislative functions were carried on in a region far remote from Scotch ecclesiastical influence.

In the month of April 1707, after the Union had been agreed to by both the Scotch and the English parliaments, but before it had yet come into operation, the General Assembly met. In none of its printed acts is there any specific mention of the great event which was upon the eve of being consum

1 Carstares's State Papers, pp. 759, 760.